adverbial N4 common casualpolitewritten
なるべく — as much as possible
なるべく
Meaning
- as much as possible / as ~ as you can — a soft request to maximize or minimize within reason
Key sentence
なるべく早く来てください。
Please come as early as you can.
Variants
なるたけ — Same meaning, a touch more colloquial and less common.
Examples
なるべく簡単な言葉で説明してください。
Please explain it in as simple words as possible.
塩分はなるべく控えたほうがいい。
You should cut back on salt as much as you can.
Notes
- Near-synonym できるだけ also means 'as much as possible' — できるだけ stresses doing the utmost, while なるべく is softer ('where reasonably possible').
See なるべく in real sentences
Jengo shows なるべく the way you actually meet it: inside real Japanese sentences, so it sticks instead of staying an abstract rule.
Study it in JengoSources Compiled from published Japanese grammar references.